194 - Bicycle Thieves - 3 stars
The quest to find a film that makes me cry continues as I watch another film that regularly appears on top tearjerker lists. Of course I have to be skeptical when even the Holocaust fails to bring a tear to my eye (see Schindler's List review).
This is high concept plot at it's most simple. An impoverished man is offered a good job that requires a bicycle to get around the town but his bicycle is stolen. Desperate to provide for his family he takes his son on a quest to recover the bike.
As the search continues the relationship between the son and father comes to the forefront.
Worried about looking like a failure to his son, he makes the wrong decision to try and steal a bicycle in order to keep his job but is caught by an angry mob.
This act is witnessed by the son, who tries to get the men to let go of his dad but simultaneously heartbroken to see his dad resorting to such extremes. The hero he looked up to had now become the villain.
This is the scene that causes grown men to cry in a similar way to Toy Story 3, the loss of childhood innocence but not even a misty eye for me I'm afraid.
Days remaining - 45 Films remaining - 45
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